jbeez

Just got my big ben amp delivered, was is supposed to come with this: (from your website) Docking Pads® to reduce vibration and extend the life of your amplifier also my remote knob and the power terminals are already nicked up and its brand new out of the box.... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SZwf4pAqQkfFH2x9zPmgxBLRwd5Gtfu7GkZzt9f7ASQ=w561-h747-no https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cXetjzzcpErJC1-PzaCOsWig4z7CpbNUqdNcxcDXp1Y=w561-h747-no sorry my cellphone camera isn't great in very close range in low lighting, but you can prob see some nicks/scratches, its more prominent on the top where the wires get tightened on the second pic the barbara ann also missing any thing to attach to the amp mounting feet, however the BA has included some screws w/ washers to mount it and 2 different sized allen wrenches to loosen the power and speaker terminals. Was the big ben also supposed to include mounting hardware and tools?

So I got my "Docking Pads" today in the mail, they are these to be very exact http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Electronics_NA/Electronics/Products/Electronics_Product_Catalog/~/3M-Bumpon-Protective-Products-SJ5017-Black-1000-per-case?N=8704948+3294772729&rt=rud Is there a specific area on the amp I'm supposed to stick these?

Thanks, my arseho never squeezes quite as tight as when I'm turning the wrenches to tighten down the wires on those toolmaker blocks about 2" apart from each other LOL. As I was working on that area I was constantly covering everything with shop rags just for a little extra peace of mind, one slip and I don't even wanna know what would happen to my face. The box isn't finished, in the process of building a false floor over it, once im done with all the fitment of that stuff I'll cover the portion in the pictures with CF style tolvex covering from partsexpress but the false floor will have a screening material in the middle, a panel to cover the screen, and the whole thing will be flat in charcoal carpet. https://goo.gl/photos/9UwTs5S7x7u8gUv29 how thats coming so far. I want to replace those individual fuse holders down in the battery area with a nice toolmaker clear mirrored block like this one I think these look great. I'm just trying to figure out if I want set screw version like this, or ring lug version which I think would be a little easier for me to hook up given the tight space. Aluminum vs Copper, and 3 vs 4 hookins. Not sure if I should plan on the future of possibly needing another wire going upto that amp for power and using a 2 to 1 adapter at the input. I have way too many decisions to make about something thats already working fine btw, best tool I've bought yet, $40 12-16ton hydraulic crimper with dies, 50mm die crimps all my 1/0 and 2/0 ringlugs and I use some nice anchor thick wall adhesive lined shrink, those connects are so solid. If you're wiring anything and you don't have one of these you're wasting your time IMO

Is it more like a gain or a bass boost attenuation? I presently use the level control for my sub out of my DSP which works really well, but I was thinking about having the big ben knob assembly up front at least for the clip light, not sure yet. If it works like a level control I might be able to use that in place of my dsp control but not likely.

Here are a few pics from this weekend. https://goo.gl/photos/XA48WrREBjzeEcfW7 I have a few holes in my amp rack because the big ben was so big I had to relocate some of my fuses, I wanted them down closer to the battery bank anyway so its all good. Maybe one day I'll rip that amp rack out and recarpet it or find another way to plug those holes up on the sly.

Thanks, Yea I didn't know the big ben looked different from the other amps, I was expecting matching amps, but at least they're on opposite sides of the board so I don't see them next to each other. I still have to wire the barbara ann speaker outputs into my high speakers, I'm waiting for a connector I ordered, but I have a feeling that isn't going to pan out exactly how I was thinking. I might crimp some male spade crimps on and call it a day. I used 12awg speaker wire and the connectors im using near the factory wiring are currently motherboard computer 8pin cpu extenions I soldered in, https://goo.gl/photos/inyGcg2jZJHJvw8u9 but the wire gauge difference is big. I'll figure it out when i get the parts in hand Presently using the factory dsp/amp to run the highs so still have sound \o/

Thanks LeeDogg, that does make sense. I prefer this style over the bass boost style as I find that useless. I'll have to do some testing. I just got my amp in last night, and from preliminary testing this morning with a +3db gain overlap to be conservative.... thing thing is a beast. Super happy with it so far

Swapped my amps in this weekend. https://goo.gl/photos/3GyPDe3517mYAbuw9 took the opportunity to clean up a bunch of wiring since I had to relocate a few things. The new amp way bigger than the old one so.... about 18hrs later there we go. hits nice but I'll have to play with it tomorrow some more when its daytime

Well, here is where I tried. But also Aaron has already been talking with me and is going to get me those mounting parts.

I noticed that the big ben amp calls for a 400A fuse, however it only has single 1/0 input terminals, that seems like its pushing it a little. Considering a fuse of 400A could sustain likely more current for much longer than music typically peaks. Most other amps I see with a single input were using between 200A and 300A fuses. Were you having issues with the amp blowing lower rated fuses? Since I typically fuse my 1/0 runs with a 300A ANL fuse, I was just going to use that and see if it pops, but if you think it will blow that out of the water I'll save the fuse and order something bigger.

you guys should fix your fuse rating for big ben from 400A to 300A on your product page for it, as US Acoustics said that was a typo @400

awesome, where are those shipping out of? Did they actually send them to you guys or drop shipping?

Sorry, the topic may be a little vague. I've recently found myself researching amplifiers as I may be replacing my zapco c2k 9.0xd amp shortly. I have 2 12" dvc subs with 1ohm per coil, and they handle 1800wRMS/ea. they're situated in a 4.2cu/ft box tuned to 30hz. The zapco puts out around 2200wRMS and I was looking for something a little closer to the subs rated input or over. So I've been working on a spreadsheet to compare different amps to try and discern a value. This task has been pretty difficult, most of the amps I'm looking at seem to be extremely similar or clones of one another? My understanding is that an "OEM" would reach out with a chinese or korean manufacturer and pick from a list of qualities they would like their amps to have, and based on those qualities the build house makes them, chooses various components to make this happen and ships them a lot of 500 or whatever units and the OEM then distributed them. Basically I'm not familiar with most of the brands, and some of the ones I am familiar with, I have no RECENT experience with them so I'm unsure on if they are still good, or what. Hoping some people can chime in and give me something to help decide. At present from all my research I'm looking at the US Acoustics Big Ben or a Zapco amp as top contender. It seems big ben has alot of value, although its an asian buildhouse amp from what I can tell, I see they specifically offer a 2yr warranty, Mike Nicholls is associated with this brand(a plus to me), and the SNR/THD numbers look good. Not that those would be deal breakers but I'm having trouble finding anything else to differentiate these amps by. If ZED made something closer to the power level I was looking for I would be considering that as well. So the brands and models I'm looking at are(copying from a spreadsheet I'm building with stats and prices) Brand Model Zapco C2k 9.0 XD US Acoustics Big Ben Zapco Z-3KD Arc Audio KS2500.1 Sundown Audio SCV-4000D Ampere Audio AA-3800.1 Crescendo Audio BC-3500D Sundown Audio SCV-3000D DC Audio 35k Crescendo Audio BC-2000D Crescendo Audio BC-5500D Digital Designs M3C Zapco Z-2KD Zapco ZX-65k Ampere Audio AA-5000.1 Icriminator Audio IA40.1 Zed Audio Minotaur Sound Qubed Q1-4500D.1 Synergy Audio WFO 15.1D Skar Audio SK-3500.1D Some of these just won't work out but I've listed them for consideration on things like strapping some smaller amps, but the impedance doesn't seem to work for me as I can only show a mono load of .25/1/4 ohm or a stereo load of .5 or 2. Also I'm trying to keep this simple. The US Acoustics earns more points as well because I can replace my rockford fosgate 800a4 with a barbara ann to run my highs and have matching new amps, and its really inexpensive with great stats on it. P.S. If you don't feel comfortable bad mouthing a brand or something like this on a public thread I understand, you can PM if you want or hold your tongue. I'm a brand new account on this forum and just signed up with the help of Aaron. If anyone is interested in the spreadsheet I have it in google docs I can share the link. current sub amp: https://photos.google.com/u/1/album/AF1QipN04tF_82tE1tcrdolXGSNhwhcgpR3srY3HPdlT/photo/AF1QipObdJkFPljwFH6kWSATKxoNboQMznNrNEkQ52ri current highs amp: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GsoTvSufeBtfXjumyGKBSM097TTOHpWBQKYiKo5h6ik=w507-h381-no Thanks for your time, sorry for the long post

I thought you'd like my results, I just sorted that spreadsheet by fusing current to make it a little easier to read. I have a column with $/watts and the crecendo amps and the SQ did awesome. Here is a snippet https://goo.gl/photos/fp5UgXrB7iQCeSya8 Remember, some of these values you may see and ask yourself why the F is he even listing that, but I was having a very hard time deciding between amps and I wanted to list as much as I could.

Sorry for posting extra, I cant seem to edit my last post though, Assume 3000w for a 6500D, so if i calculate at a bad voltage of maybe 12v that seems that supporting 3000W @12v will require about 250A of capacity in wiring. Is that the proper way to go about that figuring?

Say I have a group of rear batteries near my amps, but I also of course tie in with the front of the car. At the front of the car is a factory 175A alternator, and a stock group 65 battery. How do I figure how much current I could draw from that area so I can run the appropriate wiring. Also I'll be replacing the front battery with an xspower D6500, I want to run the wire that will support that and the alternator instead of doing that later, so I guess maybe the factory battery doesn't really matter in this, but I'd still like to figure out if what I have now is even a bottleneck currently. Waiting for some new amps to arrive and while that goes on I'm doing everything I can to cleanup all of my electrical and make sure its ready to go when the time comes. Thanks, -Jerry

PM Sent, thanks!

Great! I can't wait to get it Do you happen to have a PDF copy of the manual available for download? Thanks, -Jerry

So I've been researching ground connections, always trying to learn more about a subject, since I was upgrading some things its always a good time to refresh my memory. I've basically come across several ways suggested to make a good ground, and there are a few that stand out to me. 1) Using dielectric grease to seal moisture out of the connection area, with the idea that when you crank down on the nut to secure a ground lug to the chassis it will push this grease out of the way so the metal connects properly together and helps seal out moisture. 2) White lithium grease. I've seen this mentioned several times, but I truly feel it may be an outdated recommendation. I've also found stories of people explaining how it dried into a hardened oxidated paste. 3) Thomas & Betts KOPR-Shield. This looks pretty good actually, however I don't see many people using it. So I was wondering if anyone here used it and what they thought about it. It seems like it would be good to put inside of ring lugs before crimping as its electrically conductive, as well as putting it on bare metal ground spot. 4) Specialized kit, http://www.pozitiveground.com/order.asp This looks convenient, maybe a little pricey. This kit does have a little anti-corrosive gel in it, plus everything someone might need. May be great for a shop that'll be doing many install jobs. So far I've been using a dremel with a sandpaper bit to grind paint off around factory ground points, then I put a little dielectric grease, add a star washer, my ring lug, whatever other lugs, then a lock washer and nut on top. After its all together I wipe any excess grease and I have some clear coat spray for the whole setup. Another thing I've seen debated on forums and on various web sites is grounding to the seat belt bolt, and various other places. The chassis vs frame, floor pans, etc etc. I've come to the conclusion really its gotta be case by case and vehicles are just different. http://www.bcae1.com/battgrnd.htm has a great write-up. Bottom line seems to be, test test test. Think you found a good spot, test before and after, test resistance and test voltage drop. Don't be afraid to move a ground, and try to keep them as short as possible.

I believe that is exactly how it's used. I also have another compound I didn't mention but I believe its similar to noalox, its call ox-gard http://www.gardnerbender.com/en/ox-100b

I found SSA while researching amps, and decided this looked like a great place to purchase US Acoustics amps from, so I signed up =)

Whats the hold up?!? Get that thing in there!

How do you like your "Mike" amp? I ordered a Barbara Ann and a Big Ben to replace my RF800a4 and c2k 9.0XD. I was just outside now taking measurements on my amp board and im trying to figure out how I'll lay those out, the Big Ben is a big longer than my current amp so I need to account for that by moving some wiring, also my zapco takes a balanced in from a zapco line driver ill prob just use rca in on the big ben so I have a bunch of stupid little BS stuff to move around